Snowfall
by Lilaq 08
Summary: Orihime makes dinner plans and sends out her invitation. Oops. Invitations? Well, maybe a second invitation...Or a tree...Or fireworks? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...
1. Chapter 1

Orihime looked fondly at the new cookbook. An American cookbook.

With all-American dishes and a new world of tastes awaiting her. She couldn't wait to make something from it.

She opened the thick book as she stood outside the bookstore on the blustering November sidewalk. A chill was in the air, with snowflakes surely to follow soon. She was wrapped in a purple and pink scarf, long navy woolen coat, and her longest school uniform skirt.

She should have been cold as the wind whipped into her face, but her eyes were fastened on the page she had opened to. A full double-page, color spread of a three-tiered cake in pink and white frosting met her. It invited her into the cookbook, and she eagerly turned the page.

To be greeted by a full-scale chocolate house with gumdrops and candy-canes and a graham cracker manger scene with animal crackers.

Orihime smiled, nearly drooled, and turned another page.

A fruitcake in all its brandied fruit-and-nut glory met here eyes. Actually, she thought, it looked kind of heavy.

On the next page was a huge turkey dinner – with a huge roasted, stuffed bird, huge mashed potatoes, and an ocean of golden gravy in the gravy boat. She wanted to dive into it.

"But food is only good when you have people to eat it with you," she said to the turkey. The turkey photo had no reply.

"Hmm, America has Thanksgiving sometime this week," she told the turkey. "It's a holiday to celebrate being thankful and to be with family. Maybe I can try out some recipes on someone who..." She sighed. "Has no family?"

She closed the book and hugged it to her chest as she turned down the sidewalk. Her mind began to chug along at prospects of possible dinner guests. "Everyone I know has a family," she murmured, frowning as her violet eyes focused on the busy traffic buzzing around her as she crossed to the next sidewalk. "Tatsuki has her family. Ichigo has a family. Chad has ..." she stopped thinking. "But he has that new job on the other side of town. He barely gets enough time to go to class and to sleep."

By the time Orihime got home she had run through her list of friends. Rukia had a very important family at the Kuchiki estate, and she knew that Rukia would rather spend her extra time with Ichigo. That had become painfully apparent lately.

She sighed, refusing to be sad for her two close friends that had recently rediscovered each other. "That's good for them," she said stoutly aloud as she hung up her coat and scarf on the peg by her door inside the apartment.

She set the cookbook on the low table near her couch and sat beside it, thinking. Ishida was trying to make amends with his father for the holiday season – she didn't want to interfere with that tenuous progress. Her thoughts turned to Renji.

She smiled, and then felt a blush well up over her cheeks. "Oh, my," she said, putting her fingertips to her cheek. It was warm. Embarrassingly warm.

So, she thought, testing out the name again. "Renji."

Sure enough, it was another blush, and this time pinker and warmer.

"Well, that's just silly to blush over...Renji." This time there was a definite flame of heat to the blush. No denying it, she thought. It was the name. His name.

She gave the thought more consideration. Likely Renji would have no family to have a holiday meal with anytime soon. He liked to eat, she knew. And maybe, just maybe, she could find a way to ask him to try out a new recipe for her.

But maybe she wouldn't see him before the Thanksgiving Day – she had to find out when Americans celebrated it. She couldn't just pick a day. What if she didn't have the chance to invite him before the day arrived? What if he wouldn't accept her invitation?

An odd panic gripped Orihime. It surprised her. Usually people accepted her invitation to dinner, even if only to be polite. But now, well, now she was suddenly alarmed that she wouldn't see Renji before the right day and she wouldn't be able to ask him.

The blush was creeping back over her.

She wondered why.

* * *

><p>As luck had it, Orihime did get her chance the next day. School had let out and she was on her way home that evening after a long day of Crafts Club – they were making piñatas for an exchange class in one of the lower classes – and there he was. Wearing a thick brown coat, with a black knit hat over his hair, but with enough red ponytail hanging out for her to know it was him.<p>

Standing just outside her apartment building.

Orihime seized her opportunity. But as her legs set into motion, her resolve lagged. Maybe it was a bad idea; too froward.

But then he turned and saw her. He grinned, waving. "Hey, Orihime! Are you just coming home from school?"

She nodded, skipping along the sidewalk to where he stood under the streetlight. "Yes. Crafts Club ran late." She looked around, but didn't see Ichigo or Rukia.

He read her glance. "Rukia said she'd be here soon. Had something she wanted to talk to you about for New Years."

"Oh, yes, she mentioned something about fireworks at the lake." She bit her lip, her fortitude slipping as he looked down at her. "It's nice to be with family for the holidays," she ventured. "And friends, too."

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." Some of her history came back to him in a lurch of memory. "Friends are good, too, huh? Almost like family sometimes."

"Oh, yes."

A gust of wind caught her scarf and it flung from her collar, twisting in the draft. Her hair followed, seeming to race the scarf as the wind grew sharper.

"It's getting colder, too," he said. He grabbed the end of the scarf as she pulled her hair back into obedience at her collar.

He watched a faint pink touch her cheeks, and then he wrapped the scarf around her neck, tucking the end into her hands. "You need to wear mittens, Orihime."

"I lost mine last year." She nodded, summoning her courage. "I have a new cookbook."

He lifted one tattooed eyebrow, grinning. "Yeah? Make anything yet?"

She smiled. "No. But, but I will. It's American."

He nodded. "Sounds good."

"Would you like to try a dinner?" Orihime wanted to call back the awkward collection of words, but it was too late. "I mean, come for dinner?"

He chuckled, watching the ends of the scarf try to escape her fingers as she clutched it tightly. "Sure."

She smiled wider. "You would?"

He nodded and was about to speak, but from the other side of the sidewalk came a group of people, and in front of them were Ichigo and Rukia. Renji saw the light in Orihime's eyes dim, something that had bothered _him_ when he saw her see _them_ lately.

She looked back to him. "Really?"

He nodded. "When?"

"Uh, this Thursday."

Rukia and Ichigo caught up to them, standing a little closer together than normal, Orihime noticed. She decided she didn't notice.

"What's this Thursday?" Ichigo asked, looking from Renji to Orihime.

"Orihime got a new cookbook and she's cooking dinner," Renji said. He looked to her. "It's American."

"Ooh, that would be good," Rukia said with a smile. "What are you going to make first, Orihime?"

The air seemed to suddenly grow colder as Orihime's cheeks felt warmer, too warm. Three sets of eyes looked back at her, waiting for her answer. She blinked. "Uh, well, a Thanksgiving meal." She slowly looked to Renji. "An American dinner."

He nodded at her. "What time?"

"Oh, uh..." Orihime tried to do a little quick figuring.

"That's good," Ichigo said to her. "We have no class Thursday. Isn't Thanksgiving a big dinner to make?"

Orihime had read up on that in the cookbook under the section called _Advanced Preparations for Special Dinners_. "Oh, yes. It takes hours and hours."

Rukia nodded. "I can help you. It might be fun."

Orihime stared at her. "You would?"

"Sure." She pulled her felt coat tighter around her chin. "Let's do that."

Orihime looked back to Renji, who was looking up at the dark skies pocked with stars. At this angle, she could see the tattoos at either side of his neck, see more of the red ponytail that was partly hidden in his sheepskin collar.

"Will you be there?" She'd meant to say it bolder, in case he was sensing a disturbance in the spiritual fields around them that she could not. She watched his eyes move along the heavens, feeling her pulse wait out his answer before her heartbeat would continue. She didn't realize her heart seemed to have stopped, pausing, awaiting his response. Maybe she would die right there if he didn't answer.

At least he would know what to do, she thought, giggling silently in her mind. She'd be in Soul Society in no time.

"We'd need to shop first," Rukia was saying, looking down as she fished her mittens out of her coat pocket.

"Oh..." Orihime said, looking to her.

"I will."

Her attention shot back to Renji as he said it.

"...Okay." She smiled.

Rukia dropped one mitten and Ichigo stooped to pick it up.

Orihime returned Renji's stare for a moment, finding no way to clarify her intention without being rude, and no way to undo the clumsy spot she found them in. She smiled. At least they were in it together.

Renji looked to Rukia as Ichigo handed her the mitten.

Or, Orihime thought, maybe she was in that spot alone.

"Thursday," Renji said to Orihime, reaching into his pocket. "I'll be there."

"Good." She nodded, and then looked down as he pulled a large pair of black and tan gloves from his coat.

He handed them to her. "Put these on. It's too cold to go without."

"Oh, but...I live right here." She looked to the apartment building.

He put the gloves in her hands. "Well, use them until you get new mittens. It's too cold to go without them, Orihime."

She smiled, taking the gloves, gripping them tightly. "Thank you."

He nodded to the sky. "I'm on call and that's definitely a Hollow."

Ichigo looked up.

"I'll make a list for dinner," Rukia said to Orihime. "I'm on call with Renji. See you in a few days!"

And then Rukia and Renji both darted down the sidewalk, gigais falling away as they went.

Orihime looked after Renji.

Ichigo watched her. "So, what do you want us to bring?"

She looked slowly to him. "Bring?"

"Yeah, well, I don't know about American dinners," he said. His gaze fell to where she gripped Renji's gloves.

Orihime sighed, and said hopefully, "...Nothing?"

He chuckled and turned down the sidewalk after the two shinigami who were already out of sight. "Okay. Goodnight, Orihime."

She watched him take off into the night.

It hadn't went exactly as she had planned.

She looked down at the large gloves in her hands, and then pulled them on her smaller ones. They were far too big and roomy, and warm from being in Renji's coat pocket.

But she had gotten a _yes_.

She smiled and went into the building.


	2. Chapter 2

By Wednesday afternoon, Orihime was panicking. She was aware that Americans ate much differently than Japanese people did, but trying to duplicate an accurate Thanksgiving dinner was nigh impossible. She had come to terms with _how_ impossible by 7:30 that evening.

She'd scoured the shops and markets, but found no turkey.

She had raided every specialty shop in Karakura Town and found no cranberries or cubed stuffing bread.

So she improvised.

By the time she got home with her heavy grocery bags and struggled into the apartment, night was falling, cold and sharp, and it was the dry coldness that came without snow; the kind that made things look like they would freeze and crack. Even people.

"There will be lots of snow later," she promised herself, taking off her boots, coat, scarf, and Renji's gloves. She smiled at the gloves, and then took her purchases into her small kitchen area.

In absence of a turkey, she wanted to get chicken, but then in absence of finding a chicken in any of the markets in town, Orihime had opted for a duck.

It wasn't very big, the duck, and as she stared at the lump of wrapped fowl on her small counter, she realized a little duck would not be enough for four people.

She hadn't exactly invited four people, or even three people, but that was how it had turned out. "Maybe if I stuff a lot of stuffing into it," she mused aloud, "it will seem bigger."

After all, she thought as she put the rest of the ingredients away, the dinner was about friends, and if she had more friends at dinner than she had planned, that was even better.

Wasn't it?

Her primary ambition had been to share a special meal with someone – a friend – who may not have a family for a special meal, and she would accomplish that. Renji could have his dinner, she could try her recipes. That was her goal.

Extra guests meant more friends around the table.

Somehow, the thought didn't bring the joy to Orihime that she thought it should. With a start, she discovered she was being selfish. It was a new concept to her, but she couldn't quite feel guilty about it. What had started as a flash of idea to have a friend who lacked a family over for a meal had somehow changed into something a little different after she had decided who to invite.

Rukia hadn't been by for the shopping that week, so Orihime had done it herself. She didn't mind. She felt a little guilty about that.

There had been no explanation, and secretly, somewhere deep inside Orihime that she usually didn't let herself visit, she was almost glad Rukia hadn't helped. She wanted to do it herself.

She put away the cold ingredients, including the duck, and turned to the cookbook. Now, about the pie...

* * *

><p>The stuffed duck was roasting, the pie finished, the sweet potatoes wrapped in tin foil and baking, and the pseudo-mashed potatoes being mashed by six o'clock the next day. On her CD player was her favorite <em>Sailor Moon Sings Christmas<em> CD and her naked kotatsu table was being dressed with four place settings.

She hadn't put the kotatsu table blanket around the low table yet, saving that necessity for December when the weather turned colder yet, but the apartment was plenty warm with the small oven baking the duck and sweet potatoes. Orihime had had both burners of her stove going since that afternoon, and she was just about ready to expect her guests – providing any of them remembered.

"I hope so," she said aloud to the duck as she checked it again as the day wore on. "Ichigo said he had to help his father today, and I haven't seen or heard from Renji. Or Rukia."

A knock to the apartment door made her quickly close the oven and spin around. She perked on a smile and smoothed her pale yellow sweater over her lilac skirt, pushing one hand through her hair. She sensed it was Renji, in a gigai, and alone.

This time the smile came fuller. She opened the door.

Renji stood in the hall, alone. He grinned, holding out a small bag to her. "Hi, Orihime. Not too early, am I?"

"No! This is perfect," she said, too loudly. She stepped aside. "Come in."

He handed her the bag. "Rukia said this was appropriate."

She took the red and gold decorated gift bag by its handle. "For me?"

"Yeah, she said a gift for the hostess was in order."

She smiled, closing the door, but then a "_Wait_!" came from the hall. Orihime opened the door as Rukia ran down the hall to them. She pushed the smile back into place on her face. "Hi, Rukia."

"Hi, Orihime." Rukia gave Renji a frown. "I said I'd meet you at the sidewalk."

He shrugged, pulling off his hat. "You said that three days ago."

Orihime looked to each of them, and then closed the door. "Well...good."

"Ichigo is on his way," Rukia said, eyeing the bag. She glanced to Renji. "You remembered?"

"Yeah, 'course I remembered."

"Come in and sit down. Dinner is nearly done," Orihime said, fingers toying with the bag's handle.

She took their coats and hung them on the pegs by the door, Renji's over hers, Rukia's alone on the second peg.

"We didn't know what time exactly," Renji said, "but Ichigo said they always had dinner at six at his house."

Rukia looked sheepishly to Orihime. "Sorry about not shopping with you," she said. "Captain Ukitake was ill and we were busy filling in for some of his tasks."

"Oh, it wasn't a problem," Orihime said. "I hope he's feeling better."

Rukia nodded. "Yes, he is."

Renji looked to the stove and then the table. It was set with festive blue and white plates, green ceramic cups, and orange napkins. "It smells good in here," he said, glancing back to Orihime. "You've been cooking all day?"

She nodded, feeling some of the heat flush her cheeks. She blamed only part of it on the warm room. "I'm glad you could come."

He was already looking at Rukia. "Ichigo is still coming?"

She nodded and then looked to Orihime. "Can I help you with anything?"

Orihime shook her head. "I've got it all. Sit down and relax."

Another knock came to the door just as they were about to move further into the room and Orihime knew it was Ichigo. She looked to Rukia. "Can you let Ichigo in, please?"

Rukia was already at the door. "Yup."

Orihime took the small bag to the kitchen counter, fighting the urge to open it, wondering if it had been Renji's choice or Rukia's. She also wondered what it was. She couldn't see into the bag, as tufts of red tissue paper poked out of the top. She set it beside the stove on the counter.

"Looks like you've been busy," Renji said as he joined her at the counter.

She turned, smiling as he stopped beside her to look at the few pots on the stove. "Oh, yes. It's...well, it's not exactly like the menu in the cookbook," she admitted.

"Looks good to me." He eyed the mound of white in one of the pots.

She glanced behind her to where Ichigo was being let in the apartment by Rukia. Ichigo slipped off his coat and hung it over Rukia's on the peg.

"It's nice of you to give up your day off from class to cook, Orihime," Renji said as she turned back.

She looked to him, and for a moment other words began to form, rude words that she usually didn't think about, no less utter. Instead she picked up the potato masher that was still in the pot of tubers. "I don't mind. I like it. Food is better with friends."

He nodded. "You're right." He watched her smile brighten, liking the peachy cast to her cheeks the hot kitchen gave her. "Need help?"

Renji helped her carry the dishes and platter of duck to the low table and for several moments she set the food about.

"...and the guy tells me that I have to send them through the Tokyo office if I want them to be postal-marked from the North Pole," Ichigo was saying as they sat down at the table. "Hey, that looks good, Orihime," he said, grinning at the duck she placed in the center of the table. "Just like a real turkey."

She settled at one side of the table as Renji sat down. "It's a duck."

All eyes turned to her.

She looked to Renji to her left, kitty-corner to her. "Uh, I couldn't find a turkey."

"That's okay," he said, nodding at her and then the roasted bird. "Hey, you stuffed it?"

She nodded. "With panko and rice."

There was a cautious look passed around the table.

"Sounds good," Renji said. He read the look on Rukia's face, who was watching Ichigo.

"Ah, Yuzu said cornbread goes in the stuffing," Ichigo said, and then, after a swift kneeing to his leg from Rukia, added: "Ouch – but I'm sure panko and rice will be good, too."

It was a tentative start to the meal, but within ten minutes they had parted out the duck, unstuffed the stuffing from its torso, harvested the raspberry relish that replaced cranberries, and leveled the mound of potato-parsnip mashed spuds. The duck was golden brown and tender and juicy, the spuds were mashed and billowy white, the raspberries were a brilliant red, and the corn was golden-yellow, just like in the cookbook's showcase photo. The colors were right.

And everywhere, there was savory gravy.

Everyone's plates were full. This time the glances going around the table were mixed.

"Hmm...good," Ichigo said, his mouth full.

Rukia nodded, her chopsticks chasing a few kernels of corn around her plate. "It is good, Orihime."

"Thank you." Orihime smiled, and then looked to Renji as his knee bumped hers beneath the table.

"Sorry," he mumbled, munching on a bite of duck.

But he didn't move away, she noticed. She smiled more, looking down at her plate.

"We should go to the fireworks at the lake for New Years," Rukia said, gorging herself on the white combination passing for mashed potatoes. She gave her plate an odd look, blinking at the white. She continued eating.

"Eh, I've got to work for my dad for New Years," Ichigo said. "He volunteered for the uptown clinic."

"We can go afterward," Rukia said, looking to him with large, hopeful eyes.

Orihime recognized the disappointment in the shinigami's face and felt a twinge of sympathy for her.

"Meet us there when you're done," Renji said, finishing half his plate's contents.

Orihime sniffed. A definite smokiness was beginning to cloud the air.

"What's the use of going for fireworks after they're over?" Ichigo downed his tea. "Nothing to see."

Rukia sighed.

Renji glanced around, and then to Orihime as she tried to figure out why the room seemed to be hazing over.

A sudden _whooff_ from the stove brought a puff of smoke from the oven, followed by an unmistakable burning smell and a popping noise.

"The sweet potatoes!" Orihime jumped up, nearly running over Renji as she rounded the table.

She dashed to the kitchen and flung open the oven door. Black smoke billowed out. She coughed and grabbed the oven mitts on the counter, knocking the small gift bag to the floor, and bent to rescue the foil-wrapped sweet potatoes.

"Ugh! I forgot them!" she cried.

She gingerly waded into the black smoke, unable to see the burning spuds inside the oven.

Renji's arm came around her waist and pulled her out as a spasm of coughing shook her. "Come on," he said, waving away the smoke with his other hand. He leaned her to the counter, switched off the heat control, and looked in the oven.

Inside, four charred, black and foil-wrapped potatoes were smoking, sizzling, dried and shrinking. Renji closed the oven door and turned to Orihime.

Her eyes were tearing, partly from disappointment, partly from failure, a little from the smoke. She sniffed, which only brought on more coughing.

"It's all right," he said. He moved to the side of the kitchen where the small window was over the sink. He lifted it and let the smoke out. "It'll air out soon."

Ichigo and Rukia stood in the kitchen looking at the stove, and then Orihime.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded, puffing a bit. She breathed easier, looking to Renji. "I wanted it all to be right," she said, choking back a sob. "I didn't mean to forget them."

For a moment he only frowned at her, and then he glanced to Ichigo and Rukia. "I thought everything was fine, didn't you?"

Rukia nodded.

Ichigo shook his head. "Don't be upset over burnt potatoes, Orihime," he told her. "Everything was good."

She looked down at the oven mitts, and then slowly pulled them off. "Okay."

Rukia held back a short cough. "It was." She sighed, coughing a little. "It's fine."

Orihime looked to Renji, who was still batting away the thinning smoke.

"It was good," Ichigo said. "Really."

"Oh, no..." she moaned, spotting the gift bag on the floor. It was on its side, seeping water into a small puddle. She knelt and scooped up the bag and its soggy contents.

She looked in, fingers carefully pulling back the wet tissue. Inside was a small snow globe, its housing cracked and leaking. It was a Christmas tree scene with what was supped to be tiny snowflakes that would swirl in the water when it was shaken. Now the glass was empty of water, light, and the round white dots meant to be snow were stuck to the glass and ground beneath the tree.

She looked to Renji, fighting more teardrops. "I'm sorry," she said, sniffing. "Oh, it was so pretty. I'm sorry I broke it."

He shook his head, taking a dishtowel from the counter and wrapping the globe in her hands. "It's just a little ornament thing, Orihime. We'll get you another one."

Her eyes lowered to the sad-looking tree now standing alone, with no chance of snow. "But it's pretty."

He set it on the counter and took the wet bag from her. "Don't worry about it."

There was more than just the burnt potatoes and broken snow globe to Orihime's mood, Renji could see that as they said their goodbyes. She had parked the smile back onto her face as they collected their coats as the apartment cleared of smoke, leaving a lingering off-smell.

"Oh, your gloves," she said as he took his coat at the door as Ichigo and Rukia moved down the hall ahead.

"Did you get mittens yet?" Renji pulled on his coat, hoping for a better smile from her. Even her pout was attractive, he decided, but he preferred a full smile on her face.

"...No."

"Keep them."

She smiled more, nodding.

"Don't be sad, Orihime," he told her, flicking his ponytail out of his collar. He opened the door. "It was a good meal, and we'll get another snow globe."

She looked up at him, his grin lifting her spirits. "Thanks, Renji."

"Everyone liked your new recipes," he said, stepping out the door.

"I don't think they were very authentic." She tried more of a smile. "I had to substitute a lot."

"Well, it worked out." He didn't want to leave her so cheerless, but figured she might find being alone – together – more awkward. "Everyone like it."

For a moment she almost asked him back in, but he was already turning down the hall. She closed the door behind him, sighing heavily. She leaned her back to the door, her voice lowering. "But I only invited you."

Renji was a couple steps down the hall when he heard those few words. He stopped, listening, uncertain he had heard correctly.

Just him?

But Orihime said no more, so he moved on.

Perhaps he'd heard her wrong.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Happy Thanksgiving!<em>**


	3. Chapter 3

The late November sky outside was cold, cold enough to snow, but it refused to do so. Orihime looked out her kitchen window at the frozen dark cobalt heavens, wishing for a few snowflakes to descend gracefully through the evening sky. None did. She turned and went back to the little shelf in the next room where she kept some of her favorite trinkets. She didn't really want to go out into the cold, but she had an errand to run and the longer she waited, the colder and darker it would get. She could forego the errand, but her planned evening wouldn't be the same.

"I'll go," she decided aloud, looking at the shelf.

Her newly acquired knickknack didn't respond.

She sighed. She had let it down, that little snow globe tree resting on the shelf. She'd let it down even before she'd shook the snow around it. It still wore the small points of Christmas decorations that were painted onto the evergreen's branch tips, but there was no snow.

She'd set a few spare game dice around it, to keep it company.

"I'll be back soon," she told it, and then got dressed to brave the outside cold.

* * *

><p>Normally Renji didn't eavesdrop, especially on girls and women, but in the last twenty-four hours he had talked himself out of believing he'd heard Orihime say she had invited only him for the Thanksgiving meal. He'd heard her wrong. He must have. He convinced himself he had; in fact, he'd convinced himself so soundly of that fact that he decided to check up on it.<p>

He wasn't sure why it was so important to check his facts – he kind of liked the idea of being wrong, that someone had went out of their way to think of him in that manner.

He caught up with Orihime that evening as she came down the sidewalk. He had hovered at the opposite side street of her building a few blocks away, thinking and _not_ stalking, circling around the block a few times, so he wasn't sure when she had left her apartment.

But there she was, coming down the sidewalk from somewhere, an auburn-haired dot in the milling crowd of black-haired girls on the street behind her building. Her breath frosted in the night air, steaming little white puffs of breath as she spotted him. She smiled, waving with one of his own gloves at him, her arms wrapped around a shopping bag.

"Hey, Orihime," he said as he met her.

"Hi, Renji," she returned, smiling as the other people hurried past them on the sidewalk.

He grinned wider. "Too cold to be out here now. You're not just getting home from school, are you?"

"Oh, no," she said, smiling more as she continued on and he fell into step beside her. "I had to get ice cream."

He glimpsed the size of the bag. "Ice cream on a cold night like this?"

She nodded. "Oh, and I got a few other groceries while I was out." She looked down at her hands, and his gloves, as they passed a clump of people going in the opposite direction. "I suppose you want your gloves back."

He saw her hands tighten around the bag as she said it. "Not really."

She smiled as they dodged a few more people.

"Actually, I'm here to give you this." He held out a small item wrapped somewhat messily in blue tissue paper.

She looked to the wadded tissue paper, then her violet eyes rose to his face. "For me?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Here. I'll trade you." He took the bag from her and carefully put the object in her hands.

She slowly turned it with his gloves, smiling for as yet unknown reasons.

"Don't drop it," he added as they crossed the street corner.

"What is it?"

"A replacement."

Something sparked in her eyes, but then she stopped and put a hand to his elbow. "Let's go this way," she said, indicating an alley that ran behind the block where she lived. "We can avoid most of the wind from the busier side of the street."

Renji eyed the alley as they entered it. To either side taller buildings rose, trash cans lined beside them, a few cats and dogs browsing what they could of the debris on the ground. "You shouldn't come down here alone," he said, skimming the shadows that hung along some of the corners of the buildings. "Could be some crummy guys hanging around."

"Oh, I don't when I'm alone." She held the tissue-wrapped object closer to her coat. "Just if I'm with Tatsuki, usually."

"Yeah, I guess that's okay." He nodded to the item she held. "Open it."

She slowed as they crossed through the alley. She cautiously pulled back the blue tissue to expose a glass snow globe. This one had a snowman inside, and when she gently shook it, glittering snow fell around it. She smiled, watching the white-glitter specks descend onto the snowman's top hat and broom in his hand. "Oh, it's so cute, Renji."

He grinned, watching her eyes flick over the snow swirling inside.

"Thank you," she murmured, looking to him as they reached the other side of the alley. "You didn't have to get me another one. I'm sorry I broke the other."

"Don't worry about it."

For a moment their steps slowed as the neared the busier street that ran along the front of Orihime's apartment building.

She looked to each of his eyes, summoning her nerve for a second shot at her first attempt. "No one ate the pie yesterday," she said slowly, hopefully. "You left before dessert." A sudden blush flamed across her cheeks, her eyes widening. "I mean, I mean, everyone left before dessert."

Renji grinned at the blush fighting off the cold breeze on her face.

"Can you come in for pie?" She smiled, bolder at his grin. "It's sweet bean paste pumpkin."

Maybe he _had_ heard right. "Sure. Sounds good, Orihime."

She nodded eagerly.

They emerged from the alley onto the sidewalk in front of her apartment, and each felt it as they did. It was a recognizable reiatsu, and one that, at the moment, was not exactly welcomed.

In front of the apartment building stood Ichigo.

Renji audibly groaned in frustration. He could have sworn he heard Orihime sigh in disappointment, too; but maybe he was mistaken.

"Hey, Orihime," Ichigo said, waiving as they gradually met him. He glanced to Renji. "What are you doing here?"

Renji scowled at him. "I'm on call tonight. Thought I'd stop by. Here. What are you doing here?"

Ichigo nodded and looked to Orihime. For once, she wasn't all smiles. He shot a look at Renji. "Did you say something rude to her?"

Renji's hand clutched the bag of groceries tighter, the other balling into a fist. "'Course not. What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Ichigo frowned, looking from Orihime to him. "Because she looks sad; she's always smiling, and now she isn't, and you're here."

"Oh..." Orihime said, forcing a smile at the misunderstanding.

"Yeah, well, she was smiling until she saw you," Renji told him.

"But, I was ... I still am," Orihime said, trying to salvage _something_. "Renji stopped by for dessert."

Ichigo sent Renji a glare. "He _what_?"

Orihime looked from Ichigo to Renji and back again. "He didn't get any last night."

Ichigo's look darkened on Renji. "Wait a minute... _What_?"

"She invited me in for pie, okay?" Renji said to him, feeling Orihime's blush return as she sorted out some of the meaning in the words. "Damn, what gutter is your mind in, Ichigo?"

Orihime wasn't quite sure which gutter Renji was referring to, but she'd figured out enough. She giggled, both from nervousness and to ward off another blush. "Uh, we, um... Would you like to come in for ice cream and pie?" she asked Ichigo, silently hoping he'd decline.

"That's it?" Ichigo was asking Renji. "Pie?"

"Oh, and he brought me this." Orihime held up the snow globe, shaking it to demonstrate the snowfall inside.

Ichigo gave it a cursory look. "Oh, yeah."

There was no mistaking the unwelcome look on Renji's face, but it was lost on Ichigo. "Sure," he said.

"...Good." Orihime had to force the word out. "Let's go in out of the cold."

It was with a few more sour looks that they three made their way into Orihime's apartment. She took their coats as they passed a couple words between them, deciding not to look at either as they grumbled. She hugged the coats close, for a moment smiling before she hung them on the rack pegs to one side of the door.

She let her chin drop, barely touching the collar of Renji's coat. It smelled like him, faintly of musk, slightly of the cold outdoors. She guiltily hung up the coats and chided herself for obliging her senses so.

She tuned her head to find both Ichigo and Renji watching her. She smiled, trying to find an excuse for lingering at the coat hooks, and couldn't. She turned around and smoothed her long skirt, still holding the snow globe close.

"You can sit down and I'll serve the pie," she said, mostly to Renji, but also to Ichigo, who didn't seem to notice.

Ichigo sat at the low table, drumming his fingers on the top of it. "Yuzu wanted to talk to you about baking New Year's cookies."

Renji had followed Orihime into the small kitchen area where she had set the snow globe on the counter. "I think he's talking to you," he said.

"Oh, yes," she said, giggling, trying not to picture Renji baking cookies. She saw his eyes go to the globe as he set the groceries on the counter. "Do you like mint ice cream?"

He nodded. "You, too?"

She smiled, nodding.

"...for class," Ichigo was saying. "Or cupcakes. Either would be fine. A sweets exchange. So, what day is good for you?"

Orihime remained at the counter, eyes on Renji still staring back at her as she tried to follow Ichigo's questions. "I'll get you some pie and ice cream," she told him. "Go ahead and –"

"Thanks," Ichigo answered her from the table.

Renji's grin turned to a scowl as he turned from Orihime and crossed to where Ichigo was sitting. "She was talking to me!"

Orihime giggled a little and found three plates in the overhead cupboard.

"How do you know?" Ichigo asked from the table.

"Because I was there looking at her," came Renji's voice.

Orihime busied herself bringing the pie out of the small refrigerator and cutting three pieces from it. She carefully set each piece on a plate, dusted them with brown sugar and cinnamon, and then used an ice cream scoop to add a nicely rounded lump of mint ice cream to the tops. She then sprinkled them with paprika. Perfect.

She set forks to the sides of the pie slices on the plates and maneuvered to the table.

"Ah, looks good," Renji said, somewhat automatically, as Orihime did her best bunny-dip to lower their plates to each of them. She sat down kitty-corner from Renji, across the table from Ichigo.

"Hey, yeah, looks good." Ichigo said it despite the somewhat uncertain expression on his face.

Renji glanced to Orihime as she sat on her knees and picked up her fork. "This is part of a traditional Thanksgiving, too?"

Orihime had just sliced off a big bite of her pie. "Uh, well, pretty much. Yes."

He nodded and turned back to the dessert.

"So, Yuzu thought maybe cookies, like those little wreath things," Ichigo was saying, mouth full of pumpkin and pale mint ice cream. He chewed slowly, unsure of the flavor invading his taste buds. "You don't have anything going on that week, do you?"

"Which week?" she asked. She took her bite, smiling as she chewed, not quite looking at Ichigo.

He shrugged, studying his dessert. "Whatever week her class has the cookie exchange. Between Christmas and New Years, I'm guessing."

"Sure."

Renji watched her say it. So sure, so ready, so willing to put aside any plans she had to help out a friend. He glared at Ichigo. And so ready to take up Orihime's time without a thought that maybe she did have plans.

"Rukia promised to help out," Ichigo added, taking a much smaller bite of the pie, now minus the ice cream.

Orihime's gaze shot to Renji. "She is?"

He shrugged, then nodded. "I guess so."

"Yuzu said you could make a day of it." Ichigo was looking skeptically at the pie on his plate. "Hot chocolate and the whole works, at our house."

Orihime was still looking at Renji, and this time he heard the question in her without her voicing it.

"I'll bring marshmallows," he said, feeling her knee rest against his beneath the table, "if you help out."

She nodded wholeheartedly, for a split second forgetting about Ichigo's confused look now resting squarely on her. She blinked, smiling, and looked back to Ichigo. "I'll help out."

"Good," Ichigo said slowly, looking between them for a moment. "Yuzu didn't invite you," he said to Renji. "Hell, Rukia didn't say anything about you tagging along."

"Is it okay?" Orihime asked.

They both looked to her, each surprised for different reasons.

"Because if it's too many people there," she said, feeling Renji's knee nudge hers, "we could do it here."

Ichigo stopped chewing, this time looking to each of them for a longer moment. "No," he said finally. "I think it's okay at my house." He studied Orihime's usually timid smile that had taken a bolder turn. "We _are_ talking about cookies and cupcakes, right?"

"And hot chocolate and marshmallows," Orihime said, nodding.

Ichigo shrugged. "Yeah..."

Renji cut off half the pie with his fork and had just taken the bite when his Soul Society communicator buzzed from his coat pocket. He stuffed the bite into his mouth, already reluctant to check the message, and stood up. "Right back," he told her.

"Okay." She turned, watching him answer the call at his coat still on the peg.

He nodded, scowling deeper as he read the short message on the communicator screen. To Orihime's disappointment, he lifted his coat from the peg. Her smile faded a notch.

"That's my call. I'm on standby and there's a pack of Hollows on the other side of town." He pulled the coat on, looking to Orihime. "Thanks for inviting me for pie."

She stood up. "Oh, well, okay. Thanks for coming by." She smiled more as she met him at the coats. "And thanks for the snow globe, Renji. I like it."

"Good."

For a moment neither of them moved, he not toward the door, she not back to the table. He thought she looked like she wanted to say something else, and he knew he certainly had more to say.

"Are you leaving or not?" Ichigo asked, standing up form his half-eaten dessert.

"I'm going." Renji went to the door and opened it. "See you later, Orihime."

She smiled, liking the way he looked at her. Reluctantly leaving, she decided. "Bye."

"I'll go with you," Ichigo said, grabbing his coat. "I'll tell Yuzu and Rukia you'll help out, Orihime."

"Okay." She watched them leave, sending a little prayer of safety after them, as she always did.

She closed the door. The apartment seemed warmer to her. A good kind of warm.

She glanced at the table. Both Renji and Ichigo's plates each had half a slice of pie left; she'd seen the way they'd eaten their halves. She knew Renji had liked the pie. She wasn't sure about Ichigo.

For once, that didn't matter.

She leaned against the door, eyes going to her counter in the kitchen area where the snow globe was patiently waiting to be shaken and enjoyed. Her gaze focused behind it to where her new cookbook was leaned against her cookie jar.

"Cookies and cupcakes..."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Merry Christmas!<strong>_


	4. Chapter 4

It had been several years since Orihime had had a Christmas tree in her apartment. Not since her brother had died, in fact. They had had a half-sized silver one then, but one year during common storage in the apartment building's damp basement, the tree had molded and Sora made them throw it out. He had died by the next Christmas, and she had been without those memories since.

But at half-off at the after-Christmas sale price and if she ate nothing but ramen cups and grape jelly, she could afford one now. Not a big tree, and it was a slightly damaged box, but a tree. She lugged it home from the store.

The air was cold and crisp, too cold to snow and too windy to be warm enough. Her breath crystallized before her, clouding her view of the sidewalk between the green branches of evergreen sticking out of the artificial tree box. Her mind was a clutter of Christmas sales, cookies, and cupcakes, and a certain shinigami with pineabpple red hair as she hummed to herself. She was due to meet at Ichigo's house in four hours – just enough time to assemble the tree and collect her cookbook and sale priced sprinkles for the baking and decorating frenzy with Yuzu.

She smiled wider as she peeked between the tree branches in her arms as she stopped at her apartment building. At her door stood Renji, already knocking.

He looked to her, grinning, in his hand a small shopping bag. "Hey, Orihime! Shopping?"

She nodded. The tree branch closest snagged her hat and lifted it from her head. "Oh!" She tried to shift the box to one side, but the hat only evaded her.

Renji met her on the sidewalk and plucked the hat from the tree. "You bought a tree?"

"Yes. There were discounted." She reached for her hat in his hands, but he carefully, and somewhat lopsidedly, pulled it back onto her head. A little too low, too.

He pushed up the edge to see her eyes that the hat nearly covered. "Sorry 'bout that." He took the box from her, avoiding the branch that threatened to poke out an eye.

"You're early." She smiled wider, enjoying the blush rising over her cheeks. "I thought you would be at Ichiog's house later."

"Oh, yeah... about that."

Orihime didn't like the way he said those words. "Oh?" She took his arm and guided him inside the building as the tree blocked part of his view. "Come in. It's getting colder out. I wish it would snow."

"You really want it to snow?"

He followed her inside, letting her lead until they were in her apartment where it was considerably warmer. "Where do you want this?"

Orihime closed the door behind him and quickly shucked off her boots, hat, his gloves, and her coat. She hung them up and put her arms around the box in his embrace. For a moment she remained there, feeling Renji not relinquish the box.

"I can set it down," he said, wishing half a dozen evergreen branches weren't between them. He could feel her shirt at her stomach at the back of his hands.

She looked up at him, visually tracing the tattoos above his eyes. She pulled the box toward her. "Take your coat and boots off. I'll make hot chocolate."

He let her have the box.

She quickly set it near the couch and looked around the room. It was acceptably clean for visitors, she decided. She wished had made something hearty to eat, to offer on such an unforgivingly cold day. She brushed a hand through her hair, certain it was mussed after Renji's haphazard hat-planting. On instinct she turned on the water kettle at the stove and found the hot chocolate mix and two mugs.

"You're still going to Ichigo's house to help with the baking?" Renji watched her bend at the cubpard, enjoying the roundness of her skirt back as she sorted through the contents on the shelf.

"Yes," she said, voice muffled in the cupboard. She stood and turned, holding a bag hard candies. "Do you like peppermints in your hot chocolate?"

He lifted the shopping bag. "I brought marshmallows."

"Oh, to take to Ichigo's hosue?"

"No." He saw the smile slip from her face. "Yeah, about that, Orhime," he said, looking to the stovetop where the kettle was starting to steam.

"You're not going?" She fought the pout wanting to form at her lips.

"No." He sighed. "Captain Kuchiki has a meeting for the entire division this evening and I can't miss it. I have to leave soon, but wanted to tell you I wouldn't be at Ichigo's this evening." He handed her the bag, feeling worse for having delivered his news firsthand. "I really can't get out of it, but I wanted to drop these off with you."

She opened the bag and looked inside. Two packages of marshmallows shaped like bunnies and snowmen looked back, bringing a small smile from her. "Oh, all right, Renji. I'll take them to Ichigo's house with me."

"No, they're for you." He shrugged as she looked to him. "I told Rukia to bring a bag for Ichigo's house."

Her fingers curled around the bag, her smile growing. "Okay. Thanks, Renji."

He wished she'd set the bag down, clear a path, but she didn't, instead hugging the bag closer to her chest. He nodded to the box by the couch. "You need help putting that together?"

"Do you want to?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think I can manage a fake tree."

She giggled and looked to the stove as the kettle whistled. "Okay. I'll get the hot chocolate ready."

Renji watched her grab the hot mitt and go to the counter with the kettle before stepping back to the couch where the Christmas tree was waiting for assembly. On the small shelf at one wall was the snow globe with the snowman inside, and beside that was the lone Christmas tree from her Thanksgiving massacre. A few dice lay beside it.

The smell of hot chocolate wafted from the kitchen area and Renji could suddenly see the draw of the holiday season for the Living. It was full of senses – smells and tastes, sounds and light. He glanced at the sole strand of colored lights strung over the shelf. A few blinked on and off, shedding odd colors against the wall. At one side of the shelf hung an inordinately large stocking with Orihime's name stitched in loopy hiragana on the top. He recalled some of the things Rukia had told him about the holiday. He still wasn't sure why she had been so adamant about finding mistletoe.

Or maybe it had been poinsettia.

Renji wasn't sure which, but it had been one or the other. Some kind of flower or fern, she said.

Orihime joined him at the couch and held a steaming cup of hot chocolate to him. "Do you like marshmallows?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess." He couldn't remember ever hanging one, but they were cute little things in the package.

She set her mug on the floor by the box and skipped back to kitchen counter. She returned with both bags of shaped marshmallows. "Bunnies or snowmen?"

"Whichever you're having."

She nodded, smiling, and ripped the bag of snowmen open. It erupted with snowmen, some falling into their cups, a few on the couch, several in her lap. "Oops," she said, cheeks growing pink as she collected the ones in her skirt and on the couch cushion. She dropped a few in her mug, watching as Renji mirrored the idea. She ate another as Renji set his mug on the floor.

He watched her chew through the spongy snowman, then cleared his throat and reached for the box of tree parts. "This should look like any other tree, right?"

She nodded. "I hope all the branches are there."

He pulled out the branches and untangled them, then found the trees base and trunk. It looked little like a tree; more like kindling. He set the trunk in the base, ignoring the instructions, as his gender was prone to do, and figured out which end of the tree branches most easily went into the holes in the upright base.

"The fireworks are in two days at the lake," he said, watching her blow on the hot chocolate. "I know Rukia's going with Ichigo." He saw her gaze drop to the cup as he said it. "You feel like standing around in the freezing dark watching fireworks with me?"

Her attention shot to him, lips pausing over her cup. "Yes." She lowered the cup as she nodded, smiling as a fuller blush rose over her face. "Yes, I'd like that."

He grinned at the pink covering her cheeks, seeing her lower her head back over the mug, her smile making her take an awkward sip of the liquid. "How was your Christmas?"

"Good." She cupped the mug in both hands, letting it rest on her knees. "I like this time of year. Do you?"

He looked back to the tree as he applied more force to a stubborn branch refusing to be planted in the trunk. "We don't celebrate it in Soul Society."

"Oh. That's sad."

He shrugged, winning the battle with the branch. It took revenge by sticking out at a belligerent angle from the other branches. "Not so much. You can't really miss something you don't know much about."

"I guess not." She frowned, mulling over the idea.

He stuck the shorter branches in the upper holes of the tree trunk. "Are you going to put trinkets on it?" He set the finished tree an arm's length away, estimating its crookedness.

She giggled. "Trinkets? Oh, you mean ornaments."

He picked up his hot chocolate from the floor, eyes on her ankles below her skirt hem as he did. "Yeah, ornaments, I guess."

"Maybe a few. I don't have many. I haven't had a Christmas tree to decorate in a long time." She left it at that, reserving memories of her brother.

He took a drink of the chocolate, nodding at it. "Not bad. Actually, it's good."

She smiled, nodding back.

"About New Year's Eve," he said, watching a marshmallow melt in the cup of rich brown liquid before looking to her. She stared back expectantly, eyes larger than usual, making him lose his train of thought as her knee rested against his.

"Yes?" she said after a moment.

Renji mentally swore. The thought was gone, replaced by that gentle touch of her knee to his. "Be sure to dress warm," he said lamely, trying to find his previous thought. All that surfaced were the ones he was trying to suppress. He took a long drink from the cup.

"Oh, yes," she said slowly, watching him down half the hot chocolate. "Yes, it will be cold at night."

Christmas music floated to them from a neighboring apartment, and then a knock came to the door. They both glanced at it, neither rising. Orihime looked to him, seeing his gaze return to her.

"Are you expecting anyone?" he asked.

"No." She sighed and set the mug on the floor. She stood and smoothed her skirt, eyes on the door. "I guess it's Tatsuki."

Renji's eyes were on her hands sliding around her hips as she walked to the door. He shook his head. Maybe hot chocolate was partly aphrodisiac. He watched her open the door, and then his mood soured.

Rukia stood there, and then she was in, with Orihime closing the door behind them.

"Oh, hey, you're here," Rukia said, spotting him, waving a mittened hand. She frowned. "Why are you here, Renji?"

He downed his chocolate and stood up. "I was dropping off marshmallows."

Orihime looked between them as Rukia held up a small plastic bag.

"I told you I'd bring them to Ichigo's house."

"I know." Renji tried to straighten the leaning tree, but it refused to be righted. It insisted on crooking to one side. He figured he could shim one side of the base.

"Nii-sama said the meeting is two hours early," Rukia said, not recognizing the impact the words had on his already annoyed mood. "I thought you knew."

Orihime felt her pleasant day slipping away as Renji nodded and set his cup on the floor again. "You have to leave now?"

He joined her at the door and grabbed his coat. "Yeah. If the meeting's moved up, I should have left an hour ago."

She watched him pull on his coat, frowning as he looked to her. "So soon?"

He grinned, hoping she'd smile. "Thanks for the hot chocolate, Orihime."

She did smile now, feeling Rukia's curiosity burning a hole in the back of her neck. "Thank you for putting the tree together." She smiled more, wishing he'd step just a little nearer.

But he didn't, instead shooting Rukia a pointed look. "All right, I'm outta here." He looked back to Orihime, catching her fingers in his hand for a brief moment. "Have fun baking."

She looked down to his fingers beneath hers, the contact bringing the smile back to her lips. Her eyes rose to his, nodding as he opened the door. "I will. We will."

"See you later, Orihime." He let her fingers reluctantly leave his. "See ya, Rukia."

Orihime was certain Rukia said something in return, but she wasn't listening. She watched Renji leave, shutting the door behind him. She looked to her hand, closing it slowly, liking how his strong hold felt on her fingers.

She turned to see Rukia's outright inquisitiveness staring back at her. She smiled, sighing.

"I told him I'd tell you he wasn't coming by," she said, watching Orihime's smile turn brighter.

Orihime didn't clear the matter. Instead she looked to the lopsided tree, tilting her head at it. "We have an hour before we have to be at Ichigo's house," she said, guessing at the time, eyes on the tree.

Rukia nodded. "Something like that."

Orihime giggled. "We have just enough time to trinket the tree."

* * *

><p><em>Happy New Year's Eve!<em>


	5. Chapter 5

Darkness came early in December evenings and with it came the bitter cold of the end of the year. The first day and night of the new year in January were no different. Orihime had dressed for the weather, knowing her long coat and scarf would be necessary to watch fireworks at the lake that evening. An immediate blush rose over her cheeks, warming her from the inside out as she stood on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building.

Renji hadn't said where they would meet to watch the fireworks display, and she didn't know if he was familiar enough with the town to find the —

"Of course he is," she told herself, embarrassed for the thought beginning in her mind. She refused to complete it, even to herself. Renji could just shunpou over Karakura Town to find the lake, if he wanted to. She sighed, watching the breath steam white before her. "Silly."

She gripped the small gift bag in her hands closer as she tossed the end of her scarf over her shoulder, eyes moving over the people passing by. All were bundled-up for the cold evening as the street lights blinked on overhead.

The scarf met with resistance over her back and she turned to deliver an apology to whomever she had just smacked with the fringed edge. Renji looked back at her, the end of her scarf still draped on his shoulder where she'd thrown it.

"Oh! Sorry!" Orihime snapped the end of the pink and purple scarf off him. "I didn't know you were there, Renji."

"It's all right." He grinned, looking over her hair lying on her shoulders, cascading over her navy coat like silken copper. "Ready to head for the lake?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

They joined the pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk, tagging after a boisterous family with four children who were hopping from crack to crack on the cement. The sky was dark and clear, the stars blinking on in the cold heavens, promising a good view of the fireworks display.

"No snow yet," Renji said as they crossed the next street. "I think it's too cold to snow."

"It snowed some a few days ago, but then it all melted." She giggled, the air frosting at her lips as she did. "I didn't think it was warm enough to melt, but the sun was out that day and the snow was all gone."

He nodded. "How was cookie and cupcake baking?"

"A lot of fun." She looked up at him, for a moment looking to the black headband he wore and then to the thick collar of his brown coat. "Don't your ears get cold? I mean, your hat doesn't cover them all the way, and you didn't even where it today."

His grin crooked. "I forgot my hat." He shrugged. "You're right; my ears do get cold, but I'm not in the Living World much in a gigai and as a shinigami, the weather doesn't affect me too much."

"Oh... Well, I got you these." She handed him the bag. "I think they'll fit."

He took the bag, his steps slowing. "You didn't have to get me anything, Orihime."

"Well, it's not much, just something...practical. Not much fun, really," she said, suddenly having second thoughts about the idea.

He stopped walking to open the bag, and then reached into his pocket. "This isn't a gift, but I thought you might like them better than those monstrous things you've been wearing."

She looked down as he handed her a pair of mittens. They were pink wool with purple bows stitched into the cuffs, roomy and warm. She smiled, glancing up at him. "I can keep them? I mean, if they're not a gift –"

"Yes, you keep them." He switched to hold the bag by the cord handles to open up one mitten. "I just meant that they're not a real gift-gift. Not something, you know, fancy or anything. Hold out your hand."

She slipped off the gloves – his gloves – she'd been wearing – and held out her left hand and smiled as he slid the mitten over her fingers and thumb.

"Next one." He watched her hand extend to him, her fingers maneuvering to fit into the mitten. He felt along the mitten over her thumb, making sure he hadn't trapped any fingers with it inside.

She held up her hands, smiling as she wiggled them a few times. "They fit perfect, Renji."

"Good."

"Oh." She handed back the gloves he'd lent her. "Thank you for letting me use them."

"Keep them, in case. Now you've got a real ugly back-up pair."

She faked a pout. "They're not ugly; they're warm."

Neither was aware of the people passing by them now, or the street lights flicking on to full power, or even the cold that came with the darker night. Orihime rubbed her hands together, liking the soft wool, the thick yarn bows on the mitten cuffs. "Thank you. I like them, Renji."

He watched her smile, seeing her eyes take on more violet than gray in the street lights.

"Put yours on," she said.

He held up the bag. "Mittens?"

She shook her head. "No."

He reached a hand into the bag and took out a pair of earmuffs. They were black, with low-fuzz fur ear caps and a black band. He grinned, nodding. "Better than a hat. Thanks, Orihime."

She watched him fold the bag and stick it in his coat pocket. He turned over the earmuffs, one thumb running over the fur caps. "I've seen you wear something like these before."

"Oh?" She frowned, falling into step with him as they continued down the sidewalk.

"Last year. When you were ice skating at the lake."

Her eyes widened at him. "You did?"

He nodded.

"I didn't see you."

"I was on-call with a couple other shinigami that day," he said, deciding it wasn't exactly stalking and certainly not eavesdropping. "You were with some other girls. Not Tatsuki. Never seen them before."

She nodded slowly.

A couple youths passed them by, bumping into Orihime as they ran on down the sidewalk. Renji took her hand and wrapped it over his arm as they reached the park where the lake opened. She smiled, fingers tightening the mitten over the crook of his elbow.

The crowd at the lake was already milling around the bank of the ice's edge. A few concession stands had set up, selling hot apple cider, hot cocoa, and spiced lemonade. Neither Renji nor Orihime saw Ichigo or Rukia, and they didn't look for them. Instead Renji bought them cider and pumpkin custard filled sweet buns and found a place to watch the fireworks along the bank.

Most of the families with children were in the front lines around the lake closest to the park's entrance, the couples and young marrieds at the edges of the small trees and tall shrubs. The sky was clouding over, becoming an opaque black against which the fireworks would be seen clearly in all their brilliant colors.

Orihime and Renji finished their cider, watching the bank fill with more people, the general chatting and laughing making for a lively crowd. Despite that, the dark was thick around them, making the populated lakeside seem less public.

The first firework shot up from the opposite side of the lake, announcing the beginning of the display with a burst of green, purple, and orange shoots that blossomed out into a large flower.

The crowd _oohed_ and _ahhed_ over it, a few of the children squealing in delight, a few other crying at the noise. Orihime smiled, her face turned up to see the next firework. A blaze of orange and red burst up and opened, falling around the dark sky as it trailed down.

And then the sky began to snow.

Large flakes from seemingly nowhere began to descend, falling out of the clouds in dizzying patterns and swirls, rivaling the fireworks and obstructing the view. Groans of disappointment went through the onlookers. More children cried at the blocked view of the fireworks. The snowfall continued, getting heavier, until some of the crowd drifted away, grumbling in frustration.

Renji watched Orihime's face drop, the smile falling away as the sky became littered with too many snowflakes to see any of the fireworks display. Around them the ground was already whitening with snow. She looked to him as he took the earmuffs from his pocket.

"Well, you got your snow," he said, trying to bring the smile back to her face.

She sighed, nodding. "Yes. I didn't think it would be tonight, though."

He took a moment to pull the headband of the earmuffs over his head. They were tight, well-fitting, and warm. He situated them over his ears where they messed up the headband he was already wearing. Orihime giggled at the lopsided bands crossing his hair.

"I can fix them."

She took her mittens off and reached up as he bent his head to her, feeling her hands position the furry cuffs over his ears so he could still hear but enough to be warm. She brushed the side of the band at one sideburn, eyes on his as he put both arms around her, pulling her closer despite the thinning crowd around them.

For a moment she was content to be in his arms, unsure when her arms settled better around his neck, not feeling the snowflakes on her hands as her fingers laced behind his collar, partly under his ponytail. Renji's gaze dropped to her lips as a snowflake landed there, melting on her lower lip.

He kissed her when the snowflake was gone, feeling her move fully into his arms. She kissed him back, timid and a little surprised. Orihime wanted to smile at the warm pressure of his kiss, but didn't, instead remaining in the light contact until she realized she wasn't breathing. He pulled back a few inches, still close enough to feel her warm breath between them, close enough to feel her pounding heartbeat through two coats.

Or maybe that was his heartbeat. After all, it was a very good gigai.

She smiled up at him, blushing and a little breathless as his arms tightened around her.

He grinned, seeing her smile. She sighed, and he found he liked the way her body seemed to conform to his when she exhaled. "Happy New Year, Orihime."

"Happy New Year, Renji."

He kissed her again, this time for a longer moment, and then they turned and started out of the park as the snow fell harder around them and the fireworks were lost in the white, each with promising hopes for the New Year.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Happy New Year!<strong>_


End file.
